Family, friends remember longtime fireman

Monday

Nov 19, 2012 at 8:02 PM

Friends and family gathered Monday to pay their respects to a one of the original members of the Coteau Volunteer Fire Department.

Chance RyanStaff Writer

Friends and family gathered Monday to pay their respects to a one of the original members of the Coteau Volunteer Fire Department. Robert A. Lee, 70, a Natchitoches native and Houma resident, died Friday at Terrebonne General Medical Center from heart complications. Lee served in the Coteau Volunteer Fire Department for about 30 years. He served as the department’s fire chief for 10 years. He was a husband, father and grandfather. Before working for the fire department, Lee served in the U.S. Air Force. As a civilian, he was a mechanic.Lee’s son, Ricky Lee, deputy chief of the Coteau Volunteer Fire Department, said around the time the department first began, a lot of equipment was donated, and it needed assembling. At the time, the elder Lee lived next door to the fire chief, who knew Lee was a mechanic, so he asked him if he would help assemble the equipment, Ricky Lee said.“From that point on, my dad kept working for the department,” he said.To Ricky Lee, his father was an inspiration and an invaluable member of the community. “He meant so much to me and to the people of this community,” Ricky Lee said. “He was devoted to his family, the community and the fire department.” To others, Robert Lee was a mentor.Jayson Ray, Grand Caillou fire chief, said Robert Lee was his first chief when he began his service at Coteau.“I learned a lot from him,” Ray said. Ray said Robert Lee motivated him to “follow through” with achieving his goals and taught him how to “accept constructive criticism.” Couteau Fire Chief Russell DiSalvo Jr. said Robert Lee is the reason the fire department is at the level it is today. “(He) set the ground work,” DiSalvo said. “He was a man of few words; but when he spoke, you listened. He will be sadly missed.”The funeral was held at the Falgout Funeral Home in Houma. Lee was buried at St. Francis de Sales Cemetery. Besides his son, Robert Lee is survived by his wife, Velma Lee; his daughter, Dee Falgout; his four grandchildren, Shawnee Falgout, and Brianna, Cameron and Ashton Lee; his mother, Helen Lee; his four sisters, Barbara Mitchell, Patricia Baker, Betty Lee and Cathy King; and his two brothers Don Lee and Luther Lee.

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